BETHANY, Okla. - Heading into the day down 0-1 in the weekend series, the Arkansas Tech softball team stormed back to sweep the doubleheader thanks to a scorching hot offense and take the road series win 2-1 against Southern Nazarene. The Golden Suns won the first game by putting up an astounding 24 runs to walk away with a 24-2 mercy rule win. The 24 runs scored by the Golden Suns tied the second-most ever in a game for the program. The record for most runs scored in a game was 25 against LeMoyne-Owen. Tech picked up another run rule win in the second game of the day with a 10-2 victory over Southern Nazarene.
GAME ONE
The Golden Suns wasted absolutely no time breaking the Crimson Storm as
Shelby Chavers and
Tymber Riley started the game with a pair of singles.
Caitlyn Wells advanced them to second and third after grounding out to first base.
Kassie Mayberry reached first off an erorr by the Crimson Storm second baseman which scored Chavers and put Riley on third to take an early 1-0 lead.
Makenzie Goins scored Riley with a single to right field.
Sydney Keaton reached first after she struckout swinging, but was able to make it to first off a wild pitch to put Goins on second and Mayberry on third to load the bases.
Savannah Snow would take her base after being walked to bring in Mayberry and keep the bases loaded. A single from
Adrianna Cooney kept the hot Golden Sun bats going scoring both Goins and Keaton to make it a 5-0 lead in just the top of the first inning.
The Crimson Storm were forced to make a pitching change, but the Golden Sun offensive slaughterfest did not slow down as the top of the lineup came back around and Chavers was at the plate for her second at-bat of the inning. Chavers hit her second single of the inning scoring Snow. Riley would be hit by a pitch to load the bases once again for the Golden Suns. A doube down the left field line by Wells scored two to make it an 8-0 game.
Following Wells was Mayberry who sent out a single to center field to score yet another run and have two on base as Goins approached the plate. Goins delivered the final punch of the first inning crushing a three run bomb over the left center wall to give the Golden Suns an astounding 12-0 lead heading into the second inning. Tech racked up an impressive eight hits in the top of the first inning. Southern Nazarene managed to find one run in the bottom of the frame but the Golden Suns already had a complete choke hold on the game with a 12-1 lead heading into the second inning.
The Golden Suns took their scorching bats into the top of the second inning as well as Chavers busted a three run homer over the right field well to make it a 15-1 lead for Tech. Riley would score the next run from a sacrifice fly to right field from Mayberry and Goins would once again deliver the final run off a single up the middle that scored Wells to give Arkansas Tech a five run second inning.
The onslaught continued in the top of the third inning as the Golden Suns found another five runs. The first scoring play came from a single by Cooney to score Keaton. The next run would come off a walk with bases loaded, followed by a wild pitch that scored another. Another wild pitch would bring around the fourth run of the inning and for the third time in the game, the final run scored in the inning would come from Goins as she grounded out to short stop that allowed Riley to score to make it a brutal 22-1 lead for Tech.
The Golden Suns would score their final two runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning due to an error by the Southern Nazarene shortstop that brought in Cooney and
Lexi Gorniak. Southern Nazarene would find just a single run in the bottom of the fifth but were completely powerless to stop the overwhelming offensive prowess by the Golden Suns as they took a commanding 24-2 win.
In the circle for the Golden Suns was
Bailey Buffington who moves to 6-4 after picking up the win. Buffington pitched a complete game striking out eight in 5.0 innings of work.
GAME TWO
Following their big time win in the first game of the day, the Golden Suns followed with another solid offensive performance. The Crimson Storm would strike the first blow this time however with a single in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead heading into the second inning of action.
Brooke Prewitt led things off for the Golden Suns in the top of the second with a single. After two straight ground outs, Prewitt would find herself on third and would score on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1. Tech would leave two stranded on base as Riley popped up to the shortstop to bring them into the bottom of the second inning. The Crimson Storm would not be able to find a run in the bottom of the frame keeping things tied at one run a piece.
Wells sent a single to left field to put her on base, which would bring in
Kacie Gibbins to pinch run. Mayberry would reach first on a fielders choice after Gibbins was thrown out and Goins would advance Mayberry to third with a single to right field. Prewitt would reach first on a fielders choice from a sac bunt that would score Mayberry and put Goins on second as Tech took a 2-1 lead. Keaton would drive in the final run of the top of the third with a single to left field that scored Goins as the Golden Suns took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the frame.
Southern Nazarene managed to find a single run in the bottom of the third with a sacrifice hit to score to make it a 3-2 game heading into the top of the fourth inning. Riley would record the only run of the fourth inning for the Golden Suns with a long bomb over the left field wall to extend the lead back up to 4-2.
The Golden Suns would close out the game with another storng offensive performance in the top of the fifth inning. Keaton crushed a single to get on base and Chavers would driver her in with a homer to right field to put up another pair of runs on the board. The Crimson Storm allowed the bases to load after walking three straight batters which brought up Goins to the plate. Goins put the final nail in the coffin for Southern Nazarene as she demolished a grand slam over the center field wall to give the Golden Suns a 10-2 lead and put them within range to run rule the Crimson Storm for the second time in the same day.
The Crimson Storm could not find an answer in the bottom of the fifth, once again completely powerless to stop the scorching hot Golden Suns offense as they took the final game of the series 10-2 and took home the 2-1 road series victory.
Starting in the circle for the Golden Suns was
Shannon Lasey who picked up the win and moves to 7-4 on the season. Lasey pitched a complete game and managed to collect three strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns head to Huntsville, Ala. on Tuesday for a midweek doubleheader against Alabama-Huntsville. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. that afternoon.
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